The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-12-25
THE SPIRIT MESSAGE.
81 A. Q. WINS.

tQdC 5Urb lew years d6Ot LILO llAo W
which suppose has never been heard
Of" .
ut was in aEittls settlement in South
ern Utah, where held the positions of
sta ion master, telegraph operator, and
man of-all work combined.
About ten niles distant from the
settlement was new mining camp, and
on the fourth day of every month 1
used to receive the cash which repre-
sented the pay roll of one of the largest
mining and smelling companies in the
camp, which 1 would immediately
turn over to the authorized agent watt
ing there to receive it, who would con-
vey it to the camp under guard. thus
getting it off my hands in hurry, to
my great relist and satisfaction.
The money always came In strong
iron box. and arrived on the last down-
rain al 2.30 p. m.. anu always Gas said
before) on the fourth day OF each month,
tle fifth being payday.
On the third Gay of September. 18-,
to my surprise, the pay-oox was put
OH at my station.
II supposed, however, that it was all
right, and that the company's agent
would call for it as usual; but when II
| came to &c O'Clock and he didn t
arrive, l began to worry some, for
/ saw l would be forced TO keep it In my
care until the 1t dav, and there were
| plenty of men in those parts then who
would think nothing of cutting the
| throats of half dozen men for a
| smaller price than the contents of that
box.
well, l locked The box in the safe
and then shut up the station and went
t. supper. When returned l brought
a pair of blankets and pillow with me,
for, although usually closed up at 10
for the night and went home to sleep
that bog worried me so that had made
u my mind to pass the night in the
Office with it.
SO, reaching the station, spread
out my blankets in front of the sale and
sat down by the instrument.
"Then the clouds began to roll up in
| the west, and the wind commenced to
blow as it only blows there. and shut
the doors and windows and prepare d
| for the storm | knew was close at
hand
With the first gust of wind and rain
1 saw from the window blackboard
dash up to the platform, from which
six or eight men alIghted.
Il thought of the pay box in min
ute, and laid my hand on the Winches
ter st my side, but soon dropped il
when l saw the men lift coffin from
1.-THE vehicle and start with it for the
door which | held open while the en-
tered.
/ They laid the coffin down near The
| safe, and one Of them handed me 8
/ paper. saying:
"'Pard, want 10 get this message
sent right off t0-night-kin ~
| II assured him he could, and taking
the message to my instrument read
"GEoReE;-John died sudden last
night. Break it easy to Kitty. Will
start for home as soon as / can. settle
up. Shipped body by express.-JIM
I've s.e,' he addei alphabetically
he was goin' home tomorrow to
marry Kitty Chats my sister,, only he
died laSr night, an nov there'll be 8
funeral stead of weddin', an SO l
thought I'd ruther stay behind till she
gets over the fust of it.-poor Kitty
And with that he and his compan-
ions went out and getting into their
| blackboard were soon out Of sight In the
storm.
And / was left there with that in
| fernal money and corpse for the rest
of the night, and between the two
soon worked myself into a beautiful
state of nervous excitement, tell you.
Il got to thinking about that message,
and about Kitty-poor Kitty, indeed,
whoever she was, until | could almost
see her pale face in every glare of tie
ghtning on The blind, az herr er
s)bs in every fl h sough of the wind
Trough Sle wires outside.
| And then ! could hear stealthy
footsteps in the pstter of the rain on
| the platform, and whispering voices in
| the rreaking OF che shutters.
! 1t was nearly Il O'CLOCK when the
crowning absurdity struck me - in the
idea that those men were really robbers,
after all, and that the coffin contained,
not q Corpse-but one of their confed-
crates
And that idea grew on ne until at
last I resolved not to try to sleep, but
to lay down on my blankets and watch
that coffin. So, taking my rife went
and laid down or the blankets. | had
only laid there few minutes when my
| instrument sounded, and springing 10
I l.
lat first could make nOthlp' Nut Of
| It, but st last l distinctly the
words:
Open The coffin! Open the coffin! Jpen
the coffin!
AT first the words came slowly and
DrOkenly, but with each repetition they
came faster, and faster until | believe
no human hand could have nanipu-
lated the instrument with such light
ming rapidity.
To say that was astonisbed doesn't
express it in the least degree. at last
it ceased. and ! tried to call mp the
other end for an explanation, but in
vain. They had, knew, been closed
since 10 O'Clock. But where could the
message tiave come from? There could
be but one answer. The weuld.5e rob
bers had tapped" the line and sent 1t
themselves Curious what idohc
thoughts will come to a man some
times, and what q mold they obtain on
him; and this one took complete DOS
session Of me.
Well. made up my mind that If
the bogus corpse and his friends waited
for me to open his coffin, they had bet